On Bears and Bees (Re-Post)

This post from 2009 is the most visited page at www.bundymum.com, I thought I'd share it with you again :)

Do you think if I stop blogging, wierd stuff will stop happening to me?

You know, like the kamakazi parrot, the exploding possum and the historic vapour rub?

Well, today, for your entertainment and edification, I'll share about someone else's weird happenings!

I've been talking to a few bloggy friends about being drenched with joy and what it is that keeps us from experiencing the joy we have in Christ. Sometimes we miss the connection because of time constraints and busyness of life, sometimes there are cracks in our life like worry, discontentment, and selfishness where the joy seeps out. And sometimes we just arent thirsty enough to want to get to the source.

It is my prayer that through these random ravings God might whet your thirst for Him again. And, true to form, He has provided some thirsty critters to illustrate the point.

An extremely lovely lady I met recently shared this story with me today. The family had been out all day Sunday and upon returning were informed by their daughter that there was a bee in the bathroom. On closer investigation, they found a swarm of around 200 bees had somehow made their way into the bathroom through the small space in the window track. Fortunately for this family, most of the swarm was contained in the bath and had, alas, perished.

(It does seem like there is a dead animal theme going on here but I assure you I had nothing to do with it!)

On another more 'lively' note, we have been having crazy weather lately: cyclones in the North and heat-waves in the South. This little Koala was so thirsty it ventured onto someones porch looking for some water. Apparently the people put out the water for the Koala to drink and he hopped right in! Although I'm not sure who actually took the photo, Nine MSN published this as a news story.

The bees and the Koala realised their need for water so desperately that they put everything else aside in order to get that life giving refreshment. They left their usual habitat and safe surroundings to pursue a higher calling. The bees didnt make it, but our Koala friend is indeed drenched, and loving it!

Maybe our lives are so busy and full of other things that we dont realise how dry we really are, and how much we really do need the life giving water God provides. I dont want to wait for a heat wave to realise this, I'm diving in.

How 'bout you? Thirsty?

Star Gazing

My husband loves to stargaze and over Christmas he enjoyed showing the family his new monocular (a cross between a telescope and binoculars) and the different planets and constellations that could be found. It was especially exciting that Jupiter was close (relatively speaking ;), and visible early in the evening.

They were all very excited, but when I looked into the scope all I could see was a bright blurry circle in the sky. I moved away pretty quickly as I figured I just couldn’t see what they could see, or maybe my eyes were a bit too shortsighted to see correctly. Bryce gently sat me back down and explained that if I let my eyes adjust, it would come in to focus and I could see clearly what they had been talking about.

He was right!!

And he showed me that the longer I looked at Jupiter, the more I would be able to see of its colours and surrounding moons. It was amazing.

The best time he picked to stargaze was when the moon had waned and wasn’t so full and bright. He said that the shadows on the moon actually give more definition and so you are able to see more contrast when it is not in full sunlight. And the darkness of the night sky enables more colour to be seen when looking at Jupiter.

Do you ever find that when others try to explain things about God to you that it’s kind of unclear and so you politely excuse yourself and let them do their thing? You think, “Well, they really love all that stuff, but I mustn’t be that way inclined.” Or maybe you get the general gist of what’s going on, but don’t really see what’s so special about it? Like it doesn’t really connect with you personally?

Well if you don’t mind me saying, you need to sit back down and pay attention J. If you haven’t really ‘got’ what I’ve been talking about, or what your friends have told you about God, just sit a bit longer. Do you want to be able to see what we see? Do you want to experience what we experience? Do you want to get to know the One who made Jupiter and created the Earth and Moon?

Next time you get a chance to hear someone talk about God,                    concentrate a bit harder.
Next time you open a Bible, read for a bit longer.
Next time you pray to God, listen a bit longer for what He might be saying to you.

Don’t give up when life gets hard, or when God seems further away. He hasn’t moved. Sometimes the shadows of life let you see other aspects of Him more clearly. Don’t give up when God seems out of focus, there may just be other things in your life which are a bit too bright which need to take a back seat so you can focus on Him.

So take a seat, relax, let your eyes adjust and see the wonder of what has been there for you all this time.